HELP! Narky mare on box rest!

[FigJam]

Good afternoon all. I have previously posted looking for some boredom-busting ideas for my poor girl who is stuck on box rest following an annular ligament/tendon sheath injury.

She is starting back doing a little in-hand walking now but still on box rest. Most of the time she is fine (when she has hay!), however I've noticed that when she has finished her hay and has nothing to keep her occupied, she is taking it out on her neighbours.

She pulls faces, squeals and does a buck/lick threat along the side of the stable and I have on occasion noticed her make contact with the wall.

This is how we suspect she got the injury in the first place, so it is breaking my heart to see her doing it. Chances are she's also doing it when I'm not there to see it.

She is obviously feeling well and not in pain, but the leg is not strong enough after so much box rest to be turned out yet. I'm really worried that she's going to make it worse again my kicking the walls. Short of turning her stable into a padded cell (which probably won't make a huge amount of difference when you think how much force can be in a kick), I'm struggling to think of solutions.

I've asked the YO to leave her with hay as much as possible, because she does seem to ignore the others when she's happy munching. I'm not sure if this will happen or not though as she seems quite stingey with the hay.

She has licks in her stable (although devours the Horslyx one at a rate of knots!) and I try double bagging her hay in small holed nets to make it last as long as possible.

One idea was to put stable bandages on to protect her leg from any knocks, but that's a bit of a faff. I also wondered if a calmer would help chill her out a bit? If so, any suggestions as to what would be best/least pricey? (full livery and vet bills are taking their toll!)

Any ideas?!

Thanks.

 

[MarthaRodman1]

Do you have the option of small paddock turnout? I mean small, the size of a stable or 2? when Jack was on box rest, to break up his day I used to put him in his little paddock while I muckout and did jobs etc, it means he get a little fress grass, fresh air and some sun on his back (well not at the mo with this summer?) It might help her chill out a bit? Different scenery and all that. I used electric fencing for Jack's paddock, and he had enought grass in it to keep him occupied for an hour of so at a time. Then when his walking exercises increased, so did the size of his paddock, and cause he was used to going out there in it, it was no big deal if it was a little bigger.

Sorry, hope this helps. box rest v frustrating I know!

Do you geta chance to take her for grass in hand? This helped Jack loads,

Good Luck!

 

[dianchi]

Premier equine to some very cheap wraps that are thick pillows with 4 straps to secure my mare has the cashel ones when she did her high suspensory 2 years ago. Very good and never slipped kept her safe even with the 90mph box walking she did!

 

[FigJam]

Thanks for the reply! The YO has offered to do this- build an outdoor "stable" for her where she can be in sight of others and munch on some grass, however when I asked the vet about it, he advised waiting until she'd done a couple of weeks in-hand walking to build up the leg a little first.

I am definitely keen to do this as soon as possible though as it will be nice for her to be out and a good way to reintroduce her to turn out as you say, with the gradual increase in size. Should make first proper turn out less exciting for her and scary for me!

During the day isn't so much of a problem as the other horse is turned out, it's dinner time onwards that she seems to be worst. It seems food/attention related if you see what I mean? Like she's upset because she thinks he may get my attention/her food. (he doesn't!)

Every evening when I go up, she is taken outside, tied up and groomed, walked (a whole 5mins just now!

) and then gets to munch grass for 20mins while I let the ice boot do it's job on her leg to help with fluid build up she's getting. (mush easier and less boring for us both than cold hosing!)

Wish I could explain it's for her own good and to ignore her neighbour- he's partly to blame as he deliberately taunts her by standing the full length of the stable and pulling faces/making noises!

 

[FigJam]

Thanks. Are they ok to have on all day? I obviously don't want to do more damage than good! Would it be ok or stupid to just put them on the back legs? Away to go have a nosey at them...!

I've already spent a fortune on licks, gel packs, magnetic boots etc already for her on this boxrest- just want her fixed and back out in the field! But willing to try anything right now.

 

[dianchi]

Yeah they are fine, not as restrictive as bandages but are fantastic!
Dont see any reason why not just behind! They also might be enough just to stop her doing it!

 

[FigJam]

Cool. At £16, they shouldn't break the bank either! Well, not as much as the Equlibrium Stretch & Flex Training Wraps I was eyeing up for when she's back in work...!

Are the sizes (14" or 16") length or width do you know? It's not very clear on the website!

Poor H is not impressed at the outgoings at the moment- she was supposed to be on working livery and only costing us grass livery and shoes during the holidays!

 

[2muddy]

Hi, I've just been through the same scenario with my gelding (fractured sesamoid and associated suspensory ligament damage).

For the 6 weeks box rest and then 6 weeks box rest plus walking out periods I tried to keep him occupied with ad lib hay (rather than double bagging), low energy licks, one of the decahedron stable toys stuffed with bits of carrot and then bits of carrot buried in his bed around the box. It all seemed to do the trick and in his box he was (mostly) really well behaved.

The buried carrot and decahedron were real favourites and seemed to keep him out of trouble for ages. But I think I got RSI from cutting the bloomin' things up!

Unfortunately after a couple of weeks of the walking out he became pretty unmanageable out of his box so I had to resort to a couple of mls of Sedalin twice a day. Not great but it was a low dose, just for a month and I imagine it helped keep him sane in his box as well.

As soon as he got onto the small paddock turnout which we combined with 10 mins a day on a huge horsewalker he was instantly back to his normal laid back self. I did have to send him up to a yard near Edinburgh for that though as we didn't have suitably small area, away from other loopy youngsters.

Best of luck, hope you manage to keep your horse sane - its such a worry isn't it?

 

[FigJam]

Glad your boy has recovered well. My poor girl has been on box rest since March.

The injury has kept flaring up when coming off the rest so we had visits to "horsepital" for scans and tests and steroid injections along the way, all of which required rest afterwards before the next step, which is why it's been so long.

She's on rubber mating with tiny bit of shavings 'cos she's so messy which scuppers the hiding carrots game sadly! I hide some in her haynets, but I'm not sure it slows her down much. I'd love to feed ad lib from the floor, but she just wolfs it down, so we need to restrict her with the nets.

She's an angel when we're out for walks, little jogging now and then, but no dancing or spinning about. And when we get back for grass it's head down, nothing can distrct her from it!! It's like she thinks she'll never see grass again poor thing! (even though she's in=hand grazed every evening!!)

I'm definitely off the whole having kids idea if this is how worrying a horse can be!!

I just want to make it all better and wish she'd cooperate more by not grumping at the other horses! Can understand it, but wish she wouldn't!